Loading ...
Inflammation, Heart Disease and Aging
Dave’s open-heart surgery was February 23, and since that time we’ve gone a little deeper into our search for wellness in longevity, in particular relating to heart health. We looked at the known and suspected causes of clogged arteries (actual names: arteriosclerosis or atherosclerosis), a few of the better known alternative treatments to decrease heart disease, lab tests for heart health, excess iron in the blood, and supplementation for a healthy heart.
To wrap up the overview, let’s consider inflammation, a common link between not only heart disease, but nearly all diseases of aging, autoimmune diseases and many cancers. Add to heart disease the following list, and you’ve got a full pallet: diabetes, arthritis, gum disease, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Alzheimer’s, asthma, irritable bowl syndrome (IBS), stroke, depression, chronic fatigue, allergies and many more.
Now, I know I’m late to the party on this one, but I’ll bet a good number of you didn’t even read the invitation, so let’s do that now.
Inflammation is a vital part of both our nervous and immune systems; you know it as redness, heat and swelling. Internally it protects us from viruses by raising the heat to eliminate infections. But what happens as we age or pile on the excesses? Our inflammation system gets out of whack, our pro-inflammation outworks our anti-inflammation chemicals and inflammation begins to build up.
This hit home with me, and maybe you, too: I’ve noticed how little it takes to stress me out these days when compared with the volume of stresses I could handle easily in years past.
Now then, remember our discussion of C-Reactive Protein earlier this month? C-RP is a blood marker of all-source inflammation. That’s what the test is looking for: elevated levels of inflammation. If your last blood test showed elevated C-RP, it’s a bleeping alarm that needs your attention.
And another clear indication of systemic damage: gum disease. If you have gum disease and your dentist didn’t refer you to a cardiologist, you need to ask why not. And should the answer not be wholly satisfactory, you need to find not only a cardiologist, but a new dentist as long as you’re out scrounging up referrals.
Now let’s get to work and tease out some anti-inflammatory remedies.
- Stop smoking.
- Increase your fruit and vegetable intake.
- Add olive oil to your menu, and work to balance Omega 3s and 6s.
- Eat fish a few days a week, and take fish oil (Omega-3) the other days.
- Exercise daily.
- Decrease red meat and dairy products.
- Increase your time between meals, and lower your calorie intake.
- Identify food or environmental allergies and eliminate them.
- Identify stressors (work, family, money, anger, frustration, commute) and work to smooth these.
- Take a baby aspirin daily, for life.
- Drink hot tea, black or green, although green may turn out to be a little better.
In looking at wellness and longevity, we’re a bit at odds with ourselves as healthy and aggressive weight training enthusiasts. Aging well is about keeping inflammation, immune reaction and stress in balance. Yet in our training we’re all about vigor, aggressive lifting and putting ourselves into continuous inflammation. We’re running our immune system at full tilt, and it’s backfiring as we hit our 50s, 60s and beyond.
In fact, excessive workouts cause inflammation. When you look a little closer, pursuing muscular development too far is not as healthy as we like to think. Over the long term, it’s just another excessive stressor that will more than likely decrease our healthy longevity. I’d say, more than anything, that’s the conclusion I’ve come to during this past couple of months of research into Dave’s arterial disease.
Looks like Mom was mixed up when she said moderation is deadly.